THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF ALLERGIES: A CASE OF EPILECTICLE SEIZURES
Jim Carry was a typical American teenager; he was an average student, who enjoyed sports and was beginning to take an interest in girls. His diet, however, left much to be desired. He would fill up on snacks and down endless glasses of an artificially flavored and colored grape drink. Over a period of more than a year, Jim’s strength began to fail him, and he showed less and less interest in his work or his friends. Then, one day, the seizures began. His parents, alarmed, took Jim to a neurologist. The doctor suspected epilepsy, yet the electroencephalogram (EEG) was normal. When the seizures continued, a psychiatrist was recommended, but the parents, suspecting allergy, brought him to me.
Jim avoided all soft drinks, all sugar, and especially all products made from grapes for a week. We then reintroduced into his diet, one by one, chemically uncontaminated grapes, commercial grape juice, and various kinds of sugar. There was no reaction; in fact, he felt better than he had in months. Then he was given a big glass of the same “junk food” soft drink to which he had been addicted. Within minutes, he fell to the floor, his body stiffened, and he went into what looked like a typical epileptic seizure.
When he recovered, a few minutes later, I discussed the cause of these seizures and the fatigue with him and his mother. I explained that chemicals in the environment, and especially food, can be a cause of these symptoms, and that if Jimmy wanted to regain his strength and health, he would have to stay away from all contaminated foods and other major chemical exposures. As long as he did this, he was not troubled with these problems again.
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